5 super easy (and free!) ways to improve your photos!

I was uploading some pictures the other day and I was all, "Dayum, I'm good."

Okay, not really, but I do think I've grown a lot in the last few years.

So now that I'm all wisdomy and stuff, I thought I would share some gems with you.

You don't have to go buy a fancy new DSLR to make your photos better. There are some easy (AND FREE!) things you can do to make your pictures more appealing.

TIP 1:
Read your camera manual. Boring? Hell yes. But you want to know how your camera works and what all those little buttons can do. There's no better way to do that then to read your manual. And then re-read it.

TIP 2:
TURN OFF YOUR FLASH! AND YES! I AM YELLING! If there's one thing you can do to improve your photos, it's turning off your on-camera flash. Your on-camera flash will make thing ugly. Ug-leh. Behold:

 

Cute baby, yes? Too bad the flash kills any emotional impact in this. Direct light on your subject's face is the least flattering light. Now, here's another picture taken a few minutes later with no flash at all.

Super dark and underexposed but I think it's already better. And you can always increase your exposure to get some of that detail back. Most free editing software will let you do this. 

MAGIC BANANAS! This is the same picture as above. All I did was increase the exposure in Lightroom.

TIP 3:
Catch lights.  Love them. Own them. Hug them. Take them out for a night on the town.

What is a catch light? It's not something from a Steven King novel. It's the light you get in your subject's eyes. It will give a lot of life to your subject.

Here's a perfectly good picture of Finn with no catch lights.

Again. It's fine. But his eyes lack life and energy. The window is behind him so we weren't able to achieve that effect. Here's another picture of him WITH the catch lights:

If you want to make sure you're getting catch lights, turn your subject toward a window or light source. Here's a picture of Bridget facing the window.

In fact, if you zoom in, you can see my silhouette and  the house across the street. Cool, huh?

Don't confuse pin lights and catch lights. Pin lights are the tell-tale sign you're using a flash and they're not as flattering. See?

 TIP 4:

Composition- When in doubt, fill the frame or follow the rule of thirds. 

Filling the frame = getting all up in somebody's biznass

If you're not familiar with the rule of thirds, it essentially means that images are more pleasing when they're not centered. If you drew a grid over your photo, you'd want your subject a third of the way in.

Centered: (it's fine but kind of a snooze)

Cropped to fit the rule of thirds:

MORE magic bananas!!!!

And if you're feeling CRAZY, try combining the two. You'll see the focus is on Cassidy's face which is in the left third of the photo but she still fills almost the entire frame.

TIP 5:
Have fun! Take your camera out and snap photos of things that interest you. You'll start noticing the world in a whole new way. Trust.

 

"Tickle Me," Elmo?

Today's a sad day. It's a sad day for children.

Today Elmo's creator, Kevin Clash, resigned from Sesame Street due to  allegations he sexually assaulted 2 adolescent boys.

And while I'm sad Elmo is forever tainted, I'm more saddened by the response.

I'm sad that our Rape Culture prevails and the first alleged victim felt he had to recant his statement 24 hours after coming forward. I'm sad the media labels alleged victims as "accusers"- like they are somehow perpetrating abuse against their alleged offenders by reporting abuse. I'm sad that the public, consumers of that beloved squeaky-voiced puppet, presumes to know Mr. Clash HAS to be innocent! He HAS to! He's such a NICE GUY!

I get the logic.

Sex offenders are all pedophiles.
Pedophiles are all monsters.
Therefore, caring dudes like Clash could NEVER commit a sexual offense.

And who's to blame?

Dur, the accuser, y'all.

Like this comment from an article about Clash's resignation:

"take a look at the photo of the young man that brought the initial complaint, and ask yourself how innocent he looks. Ask yourself who is taking advantage of who. Ask who the "professional" in this matter seems to be, and how many lawyers saw immense dollar signs flash before their eyes."

"Yes another celebrity witch hunt and public PR execution."

And remember Kobe Bryant? That poor girl, the alleged victim, was crucified in the media until she withdrew her statement. 

"***** was crazy. She had more donations in her then a sperm bank."

"god. She looks like a freaking whore. No wonder she demanded money."

And don't get me started on how we talked about the alleged victims of Michael Jackson....

Golly gee, if I'm assaulted, these kind of responses will make me want to shut my pie hole and suffer in silence like Maya Angelou's caged bird.

I heard a local DA talk about our Rape Culture about a year ago. She offered up this wonderful metaphor:

A wealthy man is driving his luxury vehicle when he realizes he's low on gas. He stops at the closest gas station even though it isn't in the best neighborhood. When he gets there, he realizes the station doesn't accept credit cards and he needs to withdraw cash from the ATM located  next to the gas station. After he withdraws the money, he's approached by a man with a gun who demands the money, the man's watch, and his wallet. After calling police, officers arrive and start questioning him about what happened: He was wearing an expensive suit. Did he always dress like that? He was driving an expensive car. Did he always drive that? Did he have a history of giving away money to charities and people in need? Because the way he was dressed and the car he drove he was clearly ASKING to get mugged. And he'd given money away before? And to a lot of people? Then he MUST'VE given this person money too!

So, why am I talking about this?

- I don't hate celebrities
- I don't hate Kevin Clash or Elmo
- I don't even hate sex offenders- They're still people. And people are complicated. And I happen to know there is no such thing as being NO RISK to commit a sex assault. No matter who you are. So, Kevin Clash? Yeah, I think he's capable of sexual assault. So am I. So are you. 

I'm talking about this because I think the way we respond to these terrible situations is important. It's important to recognize how we glorify celebrities and vilify sex offenders. Because this thinking has consequences, y'all.

It means victims are less likely to report their abuse. And Lord help us cause only 26% of sex assaults are currently reported. 

So when you're sitting around the dinner table talking about Elmo's "accusers" and what money-hungry asshats they are, remember that children will listen. 

They might miss Kevin Clash's Elmo....Maybe. They probably won't be all that influenced in the long-run. But what YOU say will certainly have an impact.

Today's a sad day. It's a sad day because thousands (millions?) of children will overhear comments about accusers and asshats and they'll keep their mouths shut and the victim-shaming, victim-blaming wins. But us? Well, we all lose in the end.